Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost of upgrades to the F-35 in the next seven years.

The F-35 future development programme will see the aircraft upgraded from the baseline capability standard (Block 3F) to the first agreed set of new capabilities (Block 4). The F-35 Joint Program Office is currently determining the scope of this development programme and its associated cost. The UK's contribution will be around 4.5% of F-35 Program common upgrade costs, from which the UK gains 100% of the benefit. Approval for upgrade funding will be sought at the appropriate points in the programme.